Thaçi assures Dacic “free movement” in Kosovo (dailies)
Kosovo Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi, said that the meeting with Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, in Brussels was very constructive while regarding the visits of officials from Serbia in the territory of Kosovo, Thaçi said “freedom of movement without discrimination will be respected” and added that “the requests will be reviewed based on the procedures and they will receive appropriate answer”.
On the other hand, Prime Minister of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that he would not take part in the dialogue if they hadn’t agreed on this issue and announced that there will be visits in Kosovo. “We have agreed to a mechanism, how to achieve this, so that the visits are enabled. There are going to be visits, regardless if there is an election campaign or not,” said Dacic.
Thaçi: Elections, European test for Kosovo (Zëri)
Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi expressed belief that Serb community will take part in upcoming local elections on 3 November. “I thank the international community and Serbia’s leadership for urging Kosovo Serbs to take part in these elections. I have full faith that elections in Kosovo will be successful, with as large turnout as possible of all communities,” Thaçi said.
Cliff: We will not close our eyes to elections manipulations (Koha Ditore)
Ambassador of Great Britain in Pristina, Ian Cliff, called on political parties in Kosovo to be careful in local elections of 3 November and not undertake any action for manipulation of the election process as this would challenge the process of European integrations.
The British diplomat said that unlike national elections of 2010, international community and EU will not tolerate improper action that would damage expression of the will of Kosovar voters. “I don’t think that representatives of international community and European Union would close their eyes towards manipulation in local elections, as it happened last time. Political parties who participate in fraud will be responsible for blocking the road of Kosovo towards EU,” said Cliff in Prizren.
Blomeyer against participation of Serb officials in election campaign (dailies)
German Ambassador to Pristina, Peter Blomeyer, has evaluated on Monday that authorities of Serbia, should refrain when it comes to participation in campaign for local elections of 3 November in Kosovo. However, he considered as a good thing if these authorities encourage Kosovo Serb citizens to participate in elections. “I would suggest not exaggerating this problem. In general I think that it is good that Serb politicians come to Kosovo to encourage Serb citizens to take part in elections. However they should refrain from participating in election campaign,” said Blomeyer during a lecture before the students of the ISPE College in Pristina.
Jahjaga: European integration only option for progress of Kosovo (dailies)
Kosovo’s National Council for European Integration, on Monday has approved in principle national strategy for European integration. The head of this Council, President Atifete Jahjaga, emphasized that this strategy means the start of practical and institutional work for the further building and empowering of wide national consensus for European integration. “European integration has been understood rightfully as the only option, without alternative, for democratic development and progress of Kosovo. We should fulfill this burden of our country with the approximation with EU, despite internal challenges which brings this reforming process,” said President, Atifete Jahjaga.
Lajm reports that Kosovo President, Atifete Jahjaga, said that neighborly problems should be solved before the membership in European Union and EU has to make it clear to European Southeast countries that European path is individual. In the meeting of the National Council for European Integration, she said that Kosovo does not have time to lose in integration process
PDK does not find support on departure of EULEX (Tribuna)
The efforts of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to excalarate the procedures of transferring EULEX competencies to the institutions of Kosovo, after Government’s drafting of the strategy, have failed. On Monday, a harsh debate took place at the Commission for Legislation, when PDK deputy, Behar Selimi, who based on the resolution endorsed at the Assembly, requested for the strategy on transfer of competencies to be part of the agenda. However, his proposal was not supported by the other members of the Commission, including Halit Krasniqi, who comes from the same party.
Election forms in the hands of Ekrem Lluka (Zëri)
The company managed by the AAK official Ekrem Lluka, Dukagjini, has been commissioned to print election forms for local elections on 3 November. According to a statement from the public procurement regulatory committee, Dukagjini’s bidding price was the cheapest compared to other companies. Head of CEC Valdete Daka said the material that will be printed out by Dukagjini is not considered sensitive. At the same time, Daka pointed out that the printing of the ballots will again be done by the Slovenian company, Cetis.
Russian pilgrims stopped at the border, they had no visas (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reports that at the border crossing point in Jarinje, members of Kosovo police have stopped from entering in Kosovo a group of pilgrims who are headed to Peja Patriarchy, where they are carrying an icon, which is a present from Russia, reported Serb media on Monday evening.
According to the local Serb television TV Most, Kosovo police has held up for three hours 23 pilgrims, of whom 18 are Russians, while as it has been said, they have visas only for the entry into Greece, and they don’t have visas to enter in Kosovo. At the border point in Jarinje has gone also the illegal head of Leposavic Municipality, Dragan Jablanic, who is talking with the EU representative, Samuel Zbogar, in an effort to solve the problem.
